The weekend had come, it was finally the day of Eren and Cindy's date to Mickey's Diner.
Eren was so excited, that he couldn't sleep at all the night before as if he were a child on Christmas Eve. Looking at himself in the mirror, the boy began talking to himself as he buttoned up his grey long-sleeve shirt.
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"Okay. Don't be nervous. You literally stopped a bank robbery, beat up a man made of electricity, and lifted a giant crane off of your body. He attempted to calm himself down, thinking of his many feats that should be of no comparison to simply going out on a date with a girl. However, things were not that simple in the boy's head.
Cindy: I'm almost ready, I'll probably be there in about thirty minutes.
Reading the text from Cindy only made the boy more nervous. In just thirty minutes, he would finally be on a date with the girl of his dreams, the one whom he was in love with before he even knew what love was.
Keeping the facade that he wasn't scared for his life, the boy responded.
Eren: For sure, I'll be there in twenty.
Having finished getting dressed, the hero began walking out of his room, though something began to bug him. He looked back to see his costume sticking out of his closet, giving him a million thoughts.
'Do I bring it just in case?'
'What am I going to do if Cindy and I start getting serious?'
'Would one get in the way of the other?'
'Should I tell her?'
Those were only a fraction of the thoughts that raced through his mind, however, the boy knew one thing:
Being a hero meant that there were no off days.
Using his webs, the boy yanked his mask toward him and shoved it in his pocket before beginning his walk to Mickey's Diner.
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Eren had been walking normally down the street with his hands in his pockets, opting to walk so his clothes didn't get dirty or ruined. As he walked, he could hear the sounds of police sirens and helicopters closing in on him from behind.
'No fucking way...' Eren thought to himself as the timing of this event was so perfect that he was convinced that a mythical force was playing a prank on him.
Within a few seconds, a white truck with the Roxxon logo dashed past the hero, carrying a load of Nuform and some thugs wearing purple and black in the back of the truck. Just behind them were a few police cars, holding their fire so as to not cause an explosion due to the Nuform in the truck.
Eren wanted to just let it go.
He wanted to just go on his date with Cindy and be a normal boy. He truly considered it.
However, before he could decide, one of the gang members chose for him.
Using a futuristic-looking rifle, one of the gang members shot an energy blast at a helicopter, causing it to spiral down toward a building filled with people.
Without even a second thought, the hero flash-stepped into an alleyway and began putting his mask on. He then dashed up to a nearby building and started chasing down the crashing helicopter.
The Phantom Spider, with everything he had, tried his best with a mixture of flash-steps and web-zips to make it to the falling helicopter on time. With one big step, the hero lept from the edge of a building, shooting a web in front of him. The web attached to the front windshield of the helicopter and the hero shot another web onto the building behind him in an attempt to stop the helicopter from smashing into an office building.
Both webs tightened, causing the hero to grunt in pain as he pulled with every single ounce of strength he could muster up, tugging on his webs to the point where his muscles felt as if they were prepared to slide off of his bones.
"HAAAAA!" He screamed, though his screams were muted by the sound of the helicopter cutting through the glass windows and concrete walls of the office building with its tail and propellers. The boy managed to mitigate the damage that the helicopter caused, saving the pilots and office workers from dying a fiery death, but he couldn't stop it completely from making contact with the building.
Tail first, the helicopter wedged itself into a lower building, barely missing anyone on that floor. For a moment, everything seemed fine. The hero was going to simply save the pilots, evacuate the building, and go on his date with the girl of his dreams.
However, things were not going to be that simple for the spider.
The building began to tremble and one of the floors above the helicopter began to bend forward slowly. Inside, there were office workers, all panicking as they began to glide downward while the building tilted.
This all happened in a matter of a second as the hero web-zipped himself forward, thinking of ways to save the people inside the building before he detected something that would make the situation much more grievous.
The hero's eyes widened as he noticed the propellors on the helicopter were still spinning. At this moment, as he soared through the air, he had to make a split-second decision. Option A: Web the propellors. This option may seem obvious at first glance, however, this decision would have been an impulsive one. At the speed at which the propellers were spinning, he had no clue if his webs were going to stop them and these people's lives were not worth experimenting with.
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Then there was Option B. Sprint up the building and somehow save the people as they fall while simultaneously forming a web barrier to prevent anyone else from falling from the floor. In this same split second, the boy chose Option B, using two webs to launch himself toward the building even faster, landing just above the blades of the helicopter.
He flash-stepped up the building, seeing a woman falling from the building to his left. "Don't worry, I got you!" The boy shouted. Using his right foot, the hero stepped to his left, grabbing the lady with his left arm before stepping up once more.
Another person appeared this time to his right, triggering the hero to use his left foot to push himself toward the man. "I got you too!" He proclaimed, diving almost horizontally to catch the man with his right arm.
With two citizens in his arms, the hero charged his foot to take one final step upward, though, to his dismay, he saw the foot of another person sliding from the building. With one mighty step, the hero flashed upward and grabbed the man with his right hand, managing to somehow hold two full-grown adults with one arm.
Using his body to break most of the impact, the hero slammed onto the floor before quickly webbing the individuals' hands to the floor to keep them from sliding. A few more office workers began sliding out of the building, however, the Phantom Spider quickly webbed them down by their hands before creating a web barrier on the open wall to stop anyone else from falling out.
Breathing heavily, the boy looked around, seeing that everyone was safe.
He let out a sigh of relief before standing back up on his feet inside the crooked building. "Is everybody alright? I'm gonna get you all out of here." The young hero proclaimed.
"Yeah."
"I'm okay."
"Thank you!"
"My daughter loves you! Can I get a picture?"
"The Daily Bugle was wrong about him."
As the people praised him, the boy felt overwhelmed with positive emotions.
He felt loved.
Seen.
Appreciated.
Respected.
Those feelings made his sacrifices worth it for him in the end, even if it meant that this side job of his would get in the way of his personal life. The people around him began to clap as the hero helped some of the people get back on their feet.
However, their celebrations were premature.
Suddenly, the building began to adjust once more, tilting forward and causing everyone but the hero to fall forward once more. Those who were not held down by webs were sliding on the ground, only being caught by the web barrier that the hero had formed just moments prior.
"Don't panic!" Said the hero, though those words were mostly aimed toward himself as he began feeling overwhelmed due to the weight of the situation.
Despite being scared, he did not let those feelings get to him.
He needed to do something.
These people had no one else to rely on at that moment.
Only him.
So without any hesitation, the boy swung out of the building, leaving everyone behind. "Where's he going!?" One of the office workers asked, thinking the hero had abanded them for dead, though that was far from the truth.
"Look!" One of the women inside the building said as she pointed at the hero swinging around to the other side of his building.
The hero landed on a neighboring building before planting his feet and pulling the building with all that he had. "RAAAAAAAH!" He screamed, tugging on the building to his maximum capacity as the people inside watched him from the inside.
Slowly, the building began to rise as the Phantom Spider dragged the building upward using every last drop of willpower within him.
Once again, his muscles seemed as if they were about to shred to pieces.
His clothes felt as if they were ready to tear off of his body.
His heart felt as if it were ready to explode.
Eventually, the structure was essentially upright, all the hero needed to do was pull just a bit more.
Just a few more inches and everyone inside of the office would be saved...
But one of the hero's webs snapped.
His eyes widened, he almost lost his composer but he kept trying to endure. Using two hands on one web, the hero kept endeavoring, utilizing everything within himself to tug.
He pulled.
The hero pulled using everything he had within himself to save those poor innocent souls from dying a premature death.
But it wasn't enough.
The building continued to fall, causing the people inside to scream in terror as their deaths were upon them.
'I can't...' The boy thought to himself as his feet began to slide, nearly sliding off of the building.
However, before he could give up, he received a second wind.
"NOOOO!" The hero roared, using a diminutive speck of latent power within him to just hold on for a bit longer. The building stopped falling, however, it was no longer being pulled upward.
It was stuck in place.
He and gravity were at a stalemate in their game of tug of war for the fates of the people within the building.
With his eyes closed, the hero kept pulling.
And pulling...
And pulling...
Until...
The building began to rise again.
It was slow, but the hero could feel the pressure being removed from his body and muscles. The hero opened his eyes, though what he saw would shock him to his core.
He wasn't the only one saving those people.
Two arms, covered with blue sleeves, stretched out from behind the hero, helping him bring the building back up. The hero turned around to see the leader of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, holding up the building with him. The stretchy hero raised an eyebrow, keeping a cool expression on his face as if the building was weightless with his help.
From behind Reed Richards came Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, as he swooped around the building with his flames covering his body. The flaming hero held up the building from the front, pushing it back to help the other two heroes bring the building upright.
At the same time, Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, and Ben Grimm, the Thing, came flying in on Sue's cosmic energy disks and made their way to the front of the building.
The Thing floated toward the helicopter, breaking the door off with his rocky muscles and pulling the pilots out before descending with them safely.
The Invisible Woman, using her cosmic abilities, lifted the civilians out of the building before gently placing them all back on the ground beneath them.
"Go, kid, help the others. We can hold it." Reed said to the boy and without hesitation, the hero lept into the building and helped Sue evacuate the entire building.
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Once the building was evacuated, the Phantom Spider stood face-to-face with the Fantastic Four. They were the first heroes he'd ever come across and he was glad that they decided to show up when they did.
The four heroes looked worried, as the boy's clothes were completely shredded and charred due to his Godspeed energy. He looked as if he were about to topple over, in fact, he did begin to fall before Reed reached out and caught him with his stretchy hand.
"Are you okay kid?" He asked as the other heroes continued to look on with worried expressions.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you for helping me save everyone..." The boy could barely speak due to how exhausted he was. He didn't realize it, but he was expelling constant Godspeed energy from his body rather than conserving it as he always did. He had nothing left.
His thoughts of Cindy Moon kept him conscious for a while, however, the boy inevitably passed out, missing their date despite his wishes.